Development Prospects of China’s Automotive Inspection Industry Automotive inspection refers to the examination to determine the technical condition or operational performance of motor vehicles. Derived from automotive maintenance technology, it has evolved alongside automotive technology as part of vehicle maintenance services. During vehicle operation, with the extension of service time (or the increase in mileage), parts gradually suffer from wear, corrosion, deformation and aging, while lubricating oil deteriorates. These issues lead to increased clearances between mating components, resulting in loose movement, vibration, abnormal noise, air leakage, water leakage and oil leakage, which degrade the vehicle’s technical performance. Therefore, inspection and maintenance become necessary. As the process of automotive industrialization accelerates, the automotive inspection industry is bound to flourish. By the end of 2011, the number of civilian vehicles in China reached 105.78 million. Even if calculated at only 10% of the total vehicle volume, the market scale of automotive inspection exceeded 10 million vehicle tests. This shows that China’s automotive inspection industry enjoys broad development prospects and huge investment opportunities. Moreover, the growth of automotive inspection will drive the expansion of supporting equipment markets and the advancement of industry technologies, gradually forming an attractive industrial chain. In terms of policies, the Ministry of Transport has issued the *Measures for the Administration of Highway Over-Limit Detection Stations*, and the 12th Five-Year Plan for the automotive industry explicitly supports the development of automotive inspection. In addition, local governments have successively introduced relevant policies. For instance, the *12th Five-Year Development Plan for Motor Vehicle Environmental Protection Inspection Institutions in Guizhou Province* issued by the Department of Ecology and Environment of Guizhou Province states that every county in Guizhou will be equipped with motor vehicle environmental protection inspection institutions by 2015. The recently released *12th Five-Year Plan for Environmental Protection in Chengdu* also proposes measures such as regular vehicle noise inspection in the city. Supported by favorable national policies and the continuous development of the automotive industry, the automotive inspection industry is poised for a new round of development opportunities. In recent years, China’s motor vehicle ownership has maintained rapid growth, with an average annual increase of 15.91 million units. In 2011 alone, the number rose by 17.73 million. By the end of 2011, the total number of motor vehicles nationwide reached 225 million, including 106 million automobiles. Even at a conservative inspection rate of 10%, the automotive inspection market scale exceeds 10 million vehicle tests. As the number of vehicles continues to grow, the volume of automotive inspection is rising steadily. Vehicle owners have long placed high demands on automotive safety. Especially with the frequent occurrence of traffic accidents in recent years, public attention to vehicle safety has become increasingly prominent when purchasing and driving cars. This places continuous new requirements on automotive inspection and further promotes the development of the automotive inspection and maintenance market. From the perspective of industrial development, automotive inspection, as a service link in the automotive industry, has spurred the progress of a series of related markets, including the advancement of inspection equipment, the increase of inspection stations, the improvement of inspection technologies and the expansion of upstream and downstream demand markets. Meanwhile, as automotive technologies and equipment become more modernized and the vehicle population expands, the state and governments at all levels will inevitably impose higher requirements on automotive inspection technologies and equipment. The continuous growth of the automotive maintenance market will also boost demand for maintenance and diagnostic equipment. In this regard, automotive inspection technologies and equipment enjoy extremely broad development prospects. During the 12th Five-Year Plan period, China’s automobile ownership is expected to reach 150 million. By 2015, the annual volume of automotive inspection in China is conservatively projected to reach 15 million vehicle tests. Notably, many vehicle owners suffer great inconvenience during annual vehicle inspections, which raises higher requirements for the accessibility of inspection services and the improvement of the inspection station network.
